Taken by the Greek Billionaire (11 page)

“I imagine they do.”

“But you are different are you not,
Kleftisa
? There is nothing about
you that is normal.”

“I could say the same about you, Sebastian.”

“Now I can ask you my question, can I not?” She nodded against his
shoulder. “Why thieving? Why not a proper job? You are beautiful enough to do
many things, and smart. You got past my security system so you must be very
clever. Why not use that for something else?”

“Because.”

“Because what?”

She looked up and their eyes met. Sebastian cursed inwardly when his
cock started to stir. He was lightheaded from hunger, tired, and drained. Yet
he still wanted more.
Madness.

“Because this is what I do, or rather it is what I have to do.”

He opened his mouth to say more, what the hell sort of answer was
that, but a knock sounded on the door and Mia, his housekeeper peeked in.
“Dinner will be served in a moment. The starters are all ready for you to begin
with.”

He simply sighed, stood and took her hand. “Come. Let’s eat.”

Sebastian was hungry enough that he ignored the looks of surprise
from Mia and two of the other staff as they ushered him and Penny into the
dining room and piled the plates high with a number of starters. Humus,
tarasamalata
, bread dipped in olive oil, olives too…the
list was endless.

He knew they’d have questions for him soon enough, because it was so
rare he brought a woman home for so long. And
his staff—though
they weren’t around very much—were
good people, so he would answer them
as honestly as he could.
She’s a thief
and I’ve paid two hundred grand to keep her here and fuck for as long as I
want. Why? Oh well that would be because I’ve gone ever so slightly mad.
Lost my mind in between her legs somewhere.
Well, no,
maybe not honestly.

He wolfed down a significant portion of the starters before they
brought in the main and was pleased to see Penny match him course for course.
Her eyes widened with each new treat and she scooped up forkful after forkful.

He found himself wondering if she was so trim because of lack of
money. Did she have enough food to eat? Where did she live? Who did she live
with? The questions piled up as he made his way through the grilled chicken. By
the time dessert was finished, Penny eating all of hers and looking longingly
at his, the questions would no longer be ignored. He was simply not the sort of
man who
could
ignore them.

“What will it take to get you to be honest with me?” he asked,
taking a long swig of water and passing his chocolate cake her way.

Penny licked her lip as she scooped a thumb full of icing into her
mouth, causing his cock to bounce to attention. “About?”

He imagined licking that chocolate off her belly and thighs and had
to grip the table to control
himself
from doing just
that right now. Good God how much more did he need? He’d come three times, was
practically drained.
“Everything.”

“And you want me to do this because?”

He loosened his grip on the table and drank some more water.
“Because I just do.”

“Right….”

“So what will it take?”

“More than you’re likely to give.”

He considered that, wondering what she might ask for and decided to
throw caution to the wind. “Ask and we’ll see.”

Chapter Fifteen

The man was practically handing her a way to get to the auction.
Handing it to her! So why the hell did she
feel
so
guilty? Penny toyed with her spoon, moving the lumps of
chocolately
goodness back and forth, trying to understand the feelings running through her,
but she was honestly at a loss.

Sebastian was nothing like she had expected.
Nothing.
She’d imagined what? A cold hearted billionaire.
Ruthless.
Hard.
Implacable.
And though
she had seen that side of him when he’d subdued her, she saw something else too.
He was sexy, funny, flirty, and God damn dynamite in the sack. None of it made
any sense. Probably because she was exhausted, she conceded, and not just a
work-an-eighteen-hour-day exhaustion. A bone deep, sated, weak-
kneeded
tiredness. She needed to sleep.

Lyra
.
Rachel
.
Lyra
.
Rachel
. She said the names over in her
head, trying to get her focus. This was too good an opportunity to pass by. It
was now or never. Hadn’t she wondered all afternoon how she was going to get to
the auction, to secure The Point—in between being fucked senseless of course?

“I’ll tell you whatever you want to know if you agree to do one
thing for me.”

Sebastian nodded slowly, a hand on his chin. Penny was struck anew
by the immense attractiveness of him. “Tell me.”

“I need you to drive me somewhere.”

“Where?”

“It’s just across
London
.”

“Why?”

So many questions.
“I have to do something.”

“What?”

She sighed. “Does it matter?”

“It does if you want me to do the driving. Though I think I can
guess. The money right?” he asked. “You have to take the money somewhere.”

“Good guess.”

“Well it’s either that or the dizzying array of criminal devices I
found tucked into your waist bag. That tablet alone is probably worth a
fortune.”

Her tablet.
She
hadn’t even had a chance to check it for damage. “Talking of which, where are
they?”

He laughed.
“Your tools?”

“Yeah.”

“Somewhere safe.
Suffice as to say you don’t need them right now, not if as I assume you
are
dropping your spoils off somewhere.”

 
“You’re right, but those
tools are mine, they stay with me.”

“The tools of your criminal enterprise,” he mused and Penny frowned.

“Exactly.”

“So where and why are we dropping off the money. I thought you said
you needed it. Why would you be giving it to someone else?”

“You don’t really need to know the details.”

“Ah
ah
.”
He shook his head. “All questions answered remember.”

She sighed. Trapped by the rules she was agreeing to. “Because that
money is for a very specific purpose and if I don’t do what needs to be done it
will mess up plans for…other people.”

“Who are these people?”

It occurred to Penny that he was grilling her already and he hadn’t
even upheld his side of the bargain, so she shook her head and placed her spoon
on the table. “I won’t tell you anything else until you drop me off.”

“How do I know you’re not leading me into a trap?”

She frowned, because that was a stupid suggestion. Had Sebastian
been imagining her as part of some sort of crime mob? With hulking henchmen
close by to take the money? She almost laughed, imagining Rachel and
Lyra
decked out in suits, gun in hand. “How could I be?”

“You might have called up one of your criminal associates and
apprised them of the situation.”

“My criminal associates?
Really, Sebastian?”

“For all I know yes.”

God he was relentless. “And when exactly did I manage to do that?
You haven’t let me out of your sight since the moment you caught me.”

He scowled.
Because that
was
the truth and they both knew it.
Hell he’d been buried
balls deep most of the day. Penny suspected he might even have watched over her
whilst she slept. He’d certainly awoken quick enough the moment she tried to
escape!

“I do not know,” he said, his accent thickening. “But if the last
day has taught me anything it is that you, Penny, are sneaky and way too smart
for your own good. I would not put anything past you.”

“Sebastian—”

“No.” He shook his head and stood, looming over her. “You will tell
me the address and who or where we are taking this money to—money that you
stole and have somehow prized from me—or we will not go at all.”

“Money I’m working for!” She felt it was important to remind him of
that.

He frowned. “Money I am choosing to give you. That is how we will
refer to it. Now talk or we will not go.”

“Then you won’t get the answers to your questions.”

The frown disappeared to be replaced with a smile, a sensual one
full of promise. Penny gulped, her heated words dying on her lips. “Oh,
Kleftisa
, I will.
You know I will. In fact, I hardly need to agree to this. A few more days in my
bed and you’ll be singing like a canary.”

“A few more days….” Her heart thumped, imagining that time spent
with him. The things they could do. She had more than enough fantasies to fill
the hours. The lube came to her mind again and what she thought he’d been
planning to do in the mirror. She had to do at least that with him before the
madness faded.

It was all completely out of control!

“Minimum,” he added.

More to give herself something to do than because
she wanted it, Penny spooned another lump of chocolate into her mouth.
It was lush, all the food was, but then she was sitting at the
table of a billionaire wasn’t she? Though it seemed she’d forgotten that, which
was a mistake in itself
. No matter how out of control
everything got she had to remember! “Then fine,” she said eventually. “I’ll
tell you.”

“I’m all ears.”

“If you really must know the money is to buy a property, and the
people who are counting on me doing that are my sisters.”

Chapter Sixteen

Sebastian strongly wishing he’d driven his jeep. His current car did
not
fit into the surrounding area—far
from it. He gripped the steering wheel and looked around, slightly startled. It
had been some years since he’d driven the rough streets of
London
. In fact now that he thought about it,
he rarely had even when he was short of money. He’d made his first million
whilst in
Athens
after a gift from his uncle
Gosta
did particularly
well on the markets. None of it had been available to spend then—it had all
been invested— but he’d stayed with relatives when he first came to
London
and they’d been
comfortably off. He was almost positive he’d never driven these streets—nor did
he want to again. To say they were grim in the rapidly darkening evening light was
putting it mildly.

The local council had clearly given up on fixing potholes and he
felt the car judder and jar with every dip in the road. One out of every three
street lights was blinking on and off and several houses were either boarded up
or just looked plain depressing. Who would ever want to live in such an area he
thought and then shook himself, because the residents clearly did not have a
choice.
Whilst much of
London
was prosperous, there were still areas of extreme poverty. Million pound town
houses backing up against council owned housing complexes and here that
difference was quite startling.
 

“Where exactly are we going?” he asked.

Penny shot him a smile. Dressed in a pair of his sweats and an old
tee, she looked fresh and innocent. He almost snorted at the thought.

“Not too far. Take the next left.”

He should have allowed his security people to accompany him, he
thought as he drove down the shady looking street. He should allow them to
accompany him far more often than he did. They were already full of questions.
He’d dealt with their immediate concerns, namely not being able to work out how
she’d gotten in, whilst Penny slept the night before, but still they were
antsy, wondering what the hell was going on.

Aren’t we all?

Still, he hadn’t wanted to look like some sort of coward, dragging a
contingent of guards with him. He chafed at having to have security at all, and
though he was rich he was not a public figure so could get away with having
them close but not too
close
most of the time. And
then to bringing them along to whatever Penny was up to felt wrong. They were
bound to ask questions and what the hell could he tell them?

I’ve actually gone a little
bit mad. Don’t worry though. It’ll all be over soon enough.
Because it would be, wouldn’t it?